Canadian Government’s Decisions Threaten U.S. Dairy Sales to Canada

Canadian Government’s Decisions Threaten U.S. Dairy Sales to Canada

Reps. Duffy & Owens send letter to Vilsack and Froman

U.S. Representative Sean Duffy (WI-07) raised concerns Monday to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and United States Trade Representative Michael Froman over recent decisions by the Canadian government that could negatively impact U.S. dairy sales to Canada.

Rep. Duffy reiterated the importance of a strong trade partnership with Canada saying, “Dairy is an important part of Wisconsin’s agriculture, economy and culture. I am asking that our friends to the north continue to work with us to maintain our strong trade relationship.”

Rep. Duffy, who led the effort with Rep. Bill Owens (NY-21) and sixteen of their Republican and Democrat colleagues, addressed three main points of concern:

Regulations on the sales of ultra-filtered milk: Canada is evaluating various regulations that could disrupt ultra-filtered milk sales that support many processing plant jobs in Wisconsin and New York.

Motion to revise the classification of pizza food preparation kits: Canada is imposing an exceptionally high tariff on food preparation kits, such as pizza kits.

Limit competition and trade by imposing new restrictions on several generic product names: As part of Canada’s recent FTA with the European Union, they plan to impose restrictions on the use of generic product names such as Asiago, Feta and Muenster. This restriction will limit the opportunities of U.S. companies to expand sales to Canada.